HUGE ASSEMBLAGE

Wairarapa Times-Age, 9 June 1939, Page 5

HUGE ASSEMBLAGE

GREATER THAN ATTENDED INAUGURATION QUEEN AND MRS ROOSEVELT DRIVE TOGETHER. INVESTITURES ON TRAIN. (Received This Da, 10.15 a.m.) WASHINGTON, June 8. It is estimated that 600,000 people lined the mile long Pennsylvania Avenue, exceeding by 200,000 the record crowd that witnessed President Roosevelt’s inauguration in 1933. The crowd enthusiastically , cheered, waved and shouted as the King drove by with the President. The Queen, in a second car with Mrs Roosevelt, held up a sunshade as the temperature was in the nineties. Because Washington is sweltering in a heat-wave, neither the Queen nor Mrs Roosevelt wore the frocks made from American and British Empire wool, respectively. Ten flying fortresses and 42 fighter planes added their note to the rumble of the tanks and the roar of the crowd. Lining the route were 6,000 police and 500 firemen, while Secret Service agents ran alongside the Royal cars, occasionally jumping on to the run-ning-boards, thus providing a touch strange in British eyes. It was reported earlier from Harrisburgh (Pennsylvania) that for the first time in history, investitures took place in a moving train, when shortly after entering the United States, the King conferred the K.C.B. on Sir Ronald Lindsay. Ambassador to the United States, the K.C.V.O. on Mr Alan Lascelles. his acting private secretary, and the C.V.O. on Mr George Steward, Press liaison officer. The occasion also marked the first time in recent years that honours had been bestowed on foreign soil. His Majesty was actuated by a desire to enable the recipients to wear their decorations at President Roosevelt’s reception today.